Another Defendant in St. Paul Croatian Fraud Case Pleads Guilty

Another defendant, Marko Nikoli, involved in the $70 million St. Paul Croatian Federal Credit Union fraud case pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of financial institution fraud and one count of money laundering in U.S. District Court in Cleveland.

Nikoli is the nephew of Koljo Nokolovski, a pivotal figure in the SPCFCU case who was sentenced in May to 18 years in prison for fraudulently obtaining $5.6 million from the credit union in the Cleveland suburb of Eastlake, Ohio.

Nikoli fraudulently received $1.4 million from SPCFCU loans in June 2003 and in May 2005, and then transferred $937,500 to a bank in Skopje, Macedonia, according to court documents. Court records also show Nokolovski used $60,811 from SPCFCU funds to buy a Mercedes Benz for Nikoli.

Nikoli is scheduled to be sentenced March 18, 2013.

Nineteen people have been indicted for their role in SPCFCU’s collapse. Others involved also have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced, while some are awaiting trials.